Card Range To Study

19 Cards in this Set

Policies that provide benefits to individuals, either through entitlements or means-testing.

entitlement programs

Government benefits that certain qualified individuals are entitled to by law, regardless of need.

means-tested programs

Government programs available only to individuals below a poverty line.

income distribution

The "shares" of the national income earned by various groups.

income

The amount of funds collected between any two points in time.

wealth

The value of assets owned.

poverty line

A method used to count the number of poor people, it considers what a family must spend for an "austere" standard of living.
an annual income of $12,803 for a family of three as of 1998.

feminization of poverty

The increasing concentration of poverty among women, especially unmarried women and their children.

progressive tax

A tax by which the government takes a greater share of the income of the rich than the poor - for example, when a rich family pays 50 percent of its income and a poor faily pays 5 percent.

proportional tax

A tax by which the government takes the same share of income from everyone, rich and poor alike - for example,when a rich family and a poor family both pay 20 percent.

regressive tax

A tax in which the burden falls relatively more heavily upon low-income groups than upon wealthy taxpayers. The opposite of a progressive tax, in which tax rates increase as income increases.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

A "negative income tax" that provides income to very poor individuals in lieu of charging them federal incom taxes.

transfer payments

Benefits given by the government directly to individuals. Payments may be either cash transfers, such as Social Security payments and retirement payments to former government employees, on in-kind transfers, such as food stamps and low-interest loans for college education.

Social Security Act of 1935

Created both the Social Security Program and a national assistance program for poor children, usually called "AFDC."

Once called "Aid to Families With Dependent Children," the new name for public assistance to needy families.

Social Security Trust Fund

The "bank account" into which Social Security contributions are "deposited" and used to pay out eligible recipients.

Privatization of Social Security

Reducing individual contribution to Social Security system, instead putting the money into a private account, a stock, a bond, or another investment.
Limited - diverting a percentage
Complete - diverting entirety

"in-kind payment"

Government distribution of something with cash value that is not cash itself (such as food stamps or low-interest loan for college education).